On October 16, 2012, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon announced that Tigran Khachatrian of Glendale, California, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for a huge identity theft scheme as well as for the possession of counterfeit devices.  The sentencing stems from a routine traffic stop that occurred in December of 2010.  

During the traffic stop, an Oregon State Trooper stopped Khachatrian and the co-defendant, Arsen Dabaghyan, on Interstate 5 around the Medford area.  They state trooper asked to search the car, and the two defendants consented to the search.  The state trooper found a total of 139 credit cards, 123 gift cards, and false forms of identification.  Additionally, the state trooper found three laptop computers, four cell phones, an MSP digital card reader, a GPS device, a digital camera, and instructions for keypad configurations at gas stations in California and Washington.  

After an investigation by the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force, it was determined that one of the laptops had software to create credit cards and debits cards.  Another program had the ability to pull information from skimmed bank cards.  

The FBI led a further investigation and found that the defendants placed skimming devices at multiple gas stations in the state of Washington in order to steal account information from the victims.  The defendants were able to obtain the credit card numbers and card holder information and then create duplicate credit cards with their computer.  

Khachatrian had multiple theft convictions in 1986.  He also had charges for identity theft, forgery and more in 2003.  After he serves his 70 months in federal prison, Khachatrian will receive three years of supervised release.  He is also ordered to pay restitution and forfeit all of the equipment that was used during the crimes.  

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation